Park Here

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from our wise friends at wisegeek.com:

The largest protected park on Earth is Greenland‘s Northeast Greenland National Park, which is approximately 357,917 square miles (927,000 square km) or about two times the size of the state of California. It was established in 1974 and contains an estimated 40% of the worldwide population of musk ox. Other animal species that live in Northeast Greenland National Park include walruses, snowy owls, polar bears, and arctic foxes. Due to its Arctic location, the park area barely reaches above freezing temperatures in the summertime, has little sunlight, and is in extreme darkness for around four months of the year.

More about nature reserves:

• Australia’s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is home to the Great Barrier Reef coral reef, which is the largest living structure in the world.


• The largest marine reserve on Earth is the Chagos Marine Protected Area, located in the British Indian Ocean Territory--it’s around twice the size of the United Kingdom and contains the biggest coral atoll, or circular-shaped coral formation, in the world.


• Greenland’s Northeast Greenland National Park is larger in size than all but 30 countries in the world.

We have some very forward-thinking and dedicated individuals to thank for all the beautiful open spaces around the world that have been preserved for us to enjoy (slideshow): http://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/travel/destinations/2013/08/19/worlds-biggest-baddest-national-parks/2671265/